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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27884140">tangles and bangles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fungifaeries/pseuds/fungifaeries'>fungifaeries</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:27:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27884140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fungifaeries/pseuds/fungifaeries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fukawa Touko/Naegi Komaru, Genocider Syo | Genocide Jack/Naegi Komaru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>tangles and bangles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the afternoon before Toko's next big book reveal, and anxiety was running high in the plain Towa city apartment Komaru shared with her while they helped the city recover from the Towa Incident. Incident? More like disaster. It'd been about a year since the two friends put a stop to the Warriors of Hope, and had stopped the coming of Junko's Successor and a new war, for now. Monaca had disappeared completely after the collapse of the building, and was assumed dead along with the Servant they had kept, who turned out to be a little more than a servant when it was discovered that he was actually a Remnant of Despair, and part of the true meaning of Monaca's operation, with her manipulated and abused subjects simply being a cover.<br/>
It had all scarred Komaru mentally, raking a poisonous talon of despair through her psyche and making it even harder for her to get up in the morning, feeling hopeless and ready to get up. Most days, she could force herself to pretend everything was okay, that she could keep going on and help others, as long as Toko stood there beside her. Some days, it wasn't like that, though, and her roommate had to give a, albeit harsh, pep talk and drag her out of bed forcefully. Still, even with what would've perturbed any other person with the writer's countless jabs, this was the average girl's fountain of hope, the only thing she could truly  count on anymore. Her parents were never proved to be dead, but that moment of certainty and despair all those months ago was still driven into her thought process like a hammer, engraved into her heart and blocking any other hopeful thoughts that tried to rush to her and wipe away her tears.<br/>
Komaru could never forgive those horrid children, she thought, bitter bile rising in her throat every time she thought of their nightmarish acts. It was awful, truly awful, and those images of what she went through still haunt her in her vivid dreams, black tar-like feelings bubbling in mind and heart each time she woke up in a feverish, sweating, loss of breath, and crying fit. This was most nights. She could never forgive those brats- those demons. Then came word of the four's, now orphans, discovery, and the hate that swirled within her...<br/>
Just stopped. She remembered the memoirs of their parents she found, the descriptions of the hellish acts they were put through. All of their broken, hopeless voices that spoke to her when she faced off with them, and had thought she killed them. Their was initial guilt, of course, but her spite, what she had gone through led her to ignore their impressionable minds that had been taken advantage of. Even Monaca had a dark, unforgivable past that led her to this moment, but Komaru had a feeling... she was the one that couldn't, no, wouldn't be coming back to a more humane standpoint.<br/>
When the brunette looked at the terrified, beaten, and broken faces of Masaru, Jataro, Kotoko, and Nagisa... she thought, no, she knew there was hope for them yet. She spoke with them, was polite, but not formal- she knew they needed something more relaxed and less adult they could relate to right now. So instead of the Future Foundation uniform she was given, she wore her old, of course washed, school uniform from her days trapped in their hunting game, because even if it brought back panic and memories best left untouched for a while, she knew that that was the Komaru Naegi they knew. She talked with them, smiled, giggled nervously, and totally intentionally acted a bit oblivious in their meeting. It was a bland, grey, police-like interrogation room, and agitation bubbled up in her chest at how they were treating these children- of course, they'd done awful things, but at this age, with minds like playdoh, if you treated them like they weren't human, it's proven in their past that that is what they would become.<br/>
So she played some of her, embarrassing yes, music and got drinks and snacks into the room, noticing their almost skeletal features and gaunt looks on their faces. Kotoko was very pleased that Komaru had remembered her love of peeled chestnuts, and even more happy when she also remembered that unpeeled chestnuts were on the other end of the spectrum for her. Masaru scarfed down his junkfood, Jataro continued to scrunch his face up when he popped a sour candy into his mouth, and Nagisa tried to be professional as he could while he ate his fruit slices, mostly consisting of green apples and green grapes. She tried not to feed them too much since it wasn't good to eat a lot after eating a lot of nothing for a while, but they didn't listen much and ended up having stomach aches anyway. With a saving pitcher of ginger ale, any sickness was avoided that day.<br/>
They were still wary and cold towards her, but not all that hostile, and after doing light questioning (there wasn't much to ask since Monaca had the stereotypical villain trait of revealing everything at once) she said her goodbyes, having to go sort out their situations from here on out. She noticed their worry, their anxiety, their fear. So she promised. With an honest, hope-filled, beaming grin sent their way, she promised that they wouldn't be separated, and that they'd be able to feel safe for once in their lives, passion seeping out of every word. She would make sure to show them how good the world could be, especially adults.<br/>
Komaru was met with fussing and arguing, telling her they'd all be put in high-security containment as far away from each other as possible, but she just roughly and haughtily pushed past all of them to stand before the one in charge of it all, Toko biting her nails anxiously from her dark corner, confliction emanating from her aura. Byakuya had been put in charge of this division, much to the Foundation's chagrin, but a certain member likened to a puppy practically begged him to stay and watch over his sister (obviously Makoto simply asked him with a please over the phone and next thing you know the blonde was grumbling about how all the good hotels had been destroyed by Monokuma, but still canceling his helicopter flight back to headquarters). He now looked down at the boy's female likeness, an arrogant but, yet again, passive look on his face as she scowled up at him, a familiar determination gleaming in her eye that Togami personally knew, couldn't be extinguished. So now, Naegi's sister was in charge of not only supportive rallies and a partial position overseeing the rebuilding of Towa, she, and occasionally her grumbling partner, would be personally in charge of the Warriors of Hope's holding and rehabilitation.<br/>
She made sure the rooms were somewhat similar to their individual rooms she'd seen when breaking into their headquarters, and allowed journals, toys, and books directed towards each of their personalities in their rooms. Even if she didn't exactly know how... Komaru felt like she understood the pain they all must have gone through, and are still going through. She wanted them to have the childhood that was so cruelly ripped from them, for some reason, she cared when they caused the majority of what she went through. Why did she want them to be happy, when they made it so hard for her to be happy? Why... why, why, why, why, why, WHY-?!<br/>
"Ow, what the hell, Omaru?! There wasn't even a knot there!" Toko's sudden yelp and jolt of her hunched over form pulled Komaru from her absent state of mind, and she realized she had been tugging down on a spot in the same place for a while. She could tell this irritated her friend a bit, as she'd dropped the use of the undesirable nickname unless she was particularly upset. The brunette would've usually thought she was overreacting, but the anxiety from her big moment probably influenced most snappy behaviors the she had. "O-Oh, sorry, Toko. My bad...!" Komaru apologized hastily, a tiny bead of sweat on her temple as she awkwardly patted the spot that had been afflicted by her irresponsible daydreaming.<br/>
At the other girl's touch, Toko's tensed shoulder relaxed and she breathed out an odd excuse for a sigh, which could easily be compared to the squeaking of a dog toy if you thought about it ; Komaru thought about it, and gave a loud snort from behind the purple-haired girl, whose face quickly flushed into a bright vermilion. Huffing haughtily, she gave a measly swat at the hair stylist she regretted hiring, who she didn't actually hire, and turned away with a pout. "Sh-Shut up, Komaru, shouldn't you be fixing my hair or whatever the hell you're supposed to be doing?!" She stuttered in her attempt to be assertive, cheeks still burning as she avoided eye contact with the female looming behind her in the stool. This only led her to take a look at the short-sleeved and tight-fitting, sage green dress that stopped a little above the Naegi sister's knees ; now, with an even redder face, Toko's eyes were glued to her naturally shaking hands in her lap.<br/>
Komaru blinked : she wasn't upset then, just... flustered? The thought made her own cheeks tint pink, but only slightly before she cheekily smiled down at her companion. "Fine, fine, but hey! On the bright side your hair has been a lot less tangled recently- I'm already nearly done brushing your hair, and then we can get to the hairstyle!" She exclaimed excitedly, bouncing a little bit beside Toko, whose body remained unmoving as she hunched over on the stool. A worried frown crossed the short-haired female's lips as she leaned forward to tap her dear friend on her shoulder, whose shoulders suspiciously shuddered for a minute just before Komaru's fingers met her clothing fabric. "Hey, are you alright...?" Her concerned question struggled to get out of her throat, a sudden sense of dread weighing down on her shoulders, and suddenly, Toko's hand flew to clamp down on her own.<br/>
The brunette barely had time to gasp when the long-haired girl's head lolled back to make eye contact with ruby, burning eyes, and a trademark sharp-toothed grin that fell on her lips, a long red tongue rolling out to undeniably reveal an unexpected guest. "Syo-?!" Komaru's mouth hung open in shock, earthy eyes wide as Syo snickered at her shock, and reached up with a free hand to tap the stunned girl on the nose. "Yeppers, that's me! And don't worry, I'm peachy-keen now that you're here, Dekumaru~!" She sang with a teasing tone, radiating energy as she gave the other female a close-eyed grin. The mentioned female finally pulled herself together and took a step back, hands now on her hips with an authoritative expression."Syo, you can't be here right now, Toko's about to go present her new book and this means a lot to her!" She scolded with puffed out cheeks, eyebrows knitted together as she waved a finger in the wild serial killer's face, appearing unfazed and like a chastising mother.<br/>
"Kyahaha, don't worry about it, doll, in reality I'm helping this sad sack of potatoes out while giving her a little zest before she walks out in some shitty excuse for a formal dress!!" Syo assured her with a crooked grin, giving a wicked laugh before hopping out of her seat, giving over exaggerated emotions as she examined her forms.With a huff and a disapproving nod, she turned back with a vehement head shake at Komaru, who was still dumbfounded by Toko's split personality's appearance. "Ew, did the mangy bitch not even change yet?! Where's my pretty dress for our wedding, Dekumaru?!" The aforementioned girl finally snapped out of it and sent a pout Genocider's way, crossing her arms over her own simple, but complimenting dress. "W-Well, I was going to do her hair first!!" Komaru shot back with a shaky start, and Syo snorted before cackling in a mocking fashion at the former. After her fit of laughter, she gave a sigh before wiping an overly comical tear out of her eyes, shaking her head at the other girl. "Ohhh oh, my sweet, sweet, Dekumaru. Slipping on a dress would ruin the hair, dipshit!!"<br/>
"You don't have to be so mean about it..." Komaru pursed her lips into a thin line and averted her eyes, an embarrassed blush spreading across her facial features. Syo's intense features softened but she still cockily strode up to the other, putting a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "It's fiiine, just be grateful dear old granny Syo came in to save the day, am I right?!" She prompted with an enthusiastic tone, and Naegi couldn't help but snort, returning the grin with her own bubbly smile. "Well, I'm sure that wouldn't hurt, right?" And no, it didn't, not in the slightest.</p>
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